


What Are Friends For?

by BambiScott



Category: The Vampire Diaries
Genre: F/M, Gen, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-25
Updated: 2011-07-25
Packaged: 2017-10-22 02:15:32
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/232602
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BambiScott/pseuds/BambiScott
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Girl’s Weekend. Elena’s boy crazy, Bonnie’s in the middle and Caroline’s realizing that she will have to leave her friends soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What Are Friends For?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ozmissage](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ozmissage/gifts).



> Note Stefan never left with Klaus. Many thanks to my beta haldoor.

 

 

  
1\. Bonnie  


 

  
Bonnie cannot believe that they're finally getting a girls' weekend. It's been months since she, Caroline and Elena spent any moments alone together; be it from boys to evil vampires named Klaus getting in their way. They needed girl time.  


 

  
They're headed to the Gilbert’s cabin since they only have a long weekend. She would’ve liked to have shown Elena and Caroline her father’s small loft in New York City, but they don't have enough time to drive there and actually enjoy the city.  


 

  
Bonnie can remember the times she spent in New York. It was right after her mother left them. Her father, a psychiatrist, moved Bonnie to the city for a year before he came to his senses; well, more like Sheila threatened him to come back home.  


 

  
Only living there for one year, Bonnie had become a city girl, which is why she cringes at the thought of going out into the woods for the weekend. Granted, her being a witch and all connects her with Mother Nature, but it's the bugs that scare her the most. However, she isn’t going to ruin their weekend.  


 

  
They decide Bonnie should drive first because Elena, even if she won't admit it, is still scared of driving since her parents' death, and from crashing her car because a vampire was on the road. Besides, Caroline wants to do her make up. This makes her fight Elena for the passenger seat so she can look into the visor’s mirror.  


 

  
Bonnie hates being in the middle of these two. It's always a competition for them. She doesn't understand why, but it's been like this for years, so she's used to it.  


 

  
“E-Elena, stop texting and join the girl chat,” Caroline whines, making Bonnie cringe.  


 

  
But Elena keeps her eyes on her cell. “I can do both, Caroline.”  


 

  
Bonnie begins to wonder who Elena is talking to since she and Stefan broke up weeks ago. It seems that Elena has gone back to the boy-crazy girl she had been at the age of fourteen. It was always her to push everyone into situations that led to trouble.  


 

  
Bonnie remembers the time in sixth grade at Sarah’s birthday party, when Elena had pushed her onto Tyler Lockwood, of all people. Out of the three of them, Bonnie is the least experienced in the boy department, and she was scared.But no, Elena, with a little help from Caroline, pushed little baby Bonnie onto Tyler. For the rest of sixth grade Tyler thought Bonnie was in love with him.  


 

  
“Both of you start talking about something other than starting a fight.”  


 

  
Yes, Bonnie is sure she is going to lose it before her turn driving is over. She is also sure she will let it slip that Caroline is now dating Stefan. Caroline is always telling her something that she shouldn’t know, or at least not yet. But with Elena texting someone else, perhaps her friend won't have a problem with the two of them dating. Well, maybe the 'behind her back' part will be a problem, but still, she can't let it slip.  


 

  
It seems like whenever Caroline or Elena - hell even Damon these days - asks her what she knows, how she knew it and why she hasn't told them, she always lets big, important, secret information slip. She is glad she'd had to fake being dead or Klaus would have gotten everything they were planning from her.  


 

  
She might even let it slip that she, Bonnie Bennett, is fucking Jeremy Gilbert.  


 

  
It will only take a mention of his name that will send her off the deep end. Sure, they all know Jeremy isn't a virgin from Elena’s stories of finding Vicki in the bathroom she shares with Jeremy, in early mornings. But her best friends still see her as 'poor little old Bonnie', the girl who is too shy to ask guys out; the girl who will only stand up for herself if it is a life or death situation. No wonder they haven't asked what she and Jeremy have been up to.  


 

  
Though she is glad Jeremy is far, far away, getting taught about all things 'vampire' from Alaric, who also let Tyler tag along. He is off to God knows where without cell reception, so that means the girls can't look over her shoulder and read some of the nasty things that Jeremy seems all too good at writing.  


 

  
Bonnie Bennett is in love, and only if Caroline and Elena could stop trying to out- beat the other, then they'd notice.  


 

  
It's been a little over an hour since they left Mystic Falls. The cabin isn't too much farther away and it seems Elena and Caroline have stopped their bickering. Now they are singing along to an old mix tape they made a couple years back. The song is about letting the rain fall down or something; Bonnie's forgotten the lyrics.  


 

  
“Come on Bon, you remember this,” Elena cheers gleefully just as Bonnie’s car starts making a noise, and with that the tire pops. The car swerves as Bonnie manages to pull off the road onto a dirt path.  


 

  
“My eye liner! Thanks a lot, Bonnie.”  


 

  
Bonnie can only glare at Caroline.The girl doesn't seem to understand that just because _s_ _he_ is a vampire doesn't mean that her two best friends can't die from a car accident.  


 

  
They sit in the car for a couple of minutes, trying to figure out who to call for help. Bonnie’s boyfriend is out, and so is Caroline’s, so it's up to Elena to find a way out of this mess.  


 

  
While Elena is on her cell trying to get a hold of someone, Caroline manages to flag a car down. It is filled with some college-aged guys who are telling Caroline that they are heading to a party and they’d be thrilled to take the girls along.  


 

  
“Oh don’t worry, we'll bring you back with a tire tomorrow.”  


 

  
Caroline, even if she can basically protect herself from anything, seems far too willing to go with these guys. She gives Bonnie a look as she tilts her head towards the car. Bonnie has no idea what to say to get Caroline away from them, expect for maybe 'Hell, NO!', but she doesn’t want to make trouble as there are four guys and only three of them.  


 

  
Elena, still on the phone, grabs Caroline and pulls her away mumbling something along the lines of 'how stupid are you' before she looks over to the guys.  


 

  
“I’m on the phone with the police.”  


 

  
It takes a nanosecond before their car pulls away, and Caroline is left on a rampage, telling Elena they could have been drunk in mere hours and that she's a capable bad-ass vampire now, so she could have easily told them to take a hike after they got the alcohol from them.  


 

  
When Caroline does something stupid it's Elena dragging her away, but when Elena does something stupid, Caroline is there doing it with her. So Bonnie always has to be the mature one. Maybe that’s why she can't bear to tell Elena what she's been doing with Jeremy.  


 

  
Bonnie sighs, looking at both of her friends.  


 

  
“Call Damon.”  


 

  
2\. Elena  


 

  
Elena can't help but pretend that there is a different reason why Damon came so quickly. He likes speeding. No he’s not happy that she and Stefan broke up. Maybe that sexual tension with Bonnie has led him somewhere with her. Okay, the last one: she feels sorry because of Jeremy; she knows Bonnie loves her brother more than anything.  


 

  
But it's getting a little old: when she calls, he comes. She likes a chase. That’s why she's been texting Matt so much; he plays games well.So does Tyler; he just likes to prove that she's always wanted him. She doesn’t want either of them really, but Damon’s at her beck and call these days. She misses the times when he made her say please before he jumped in to save her.  


 

  
She’s happy, finally, even with the break up from Stefan. It’s the first time in her life since her parents' deaths that she's a normal girl again. She's having a girls' weekend with her two best friends. She can forget that one’s a witch and the other a vampire.  


 

  
All she wants is to go back to a time where she knew nothing of the supernatural. If everything had been a dream maybe she would have been feeling like herself a lot sooner. But she needs to stop her childish daydreaming and focus on what’s at hand.  


 

  
Damon’s the one that came to save her; them.  


 

  
“I just don’t understand girls these days. They know nothing about cars. Yet they know how to do everything else in one.” He does his famous smirk and winks at Caroline. They must have some past in a car. Elena doesn’t care to think about that. It seems that Caroline is okay with his mentioning it though, which is odd since she's with Stefan.  


 

  
Yes, Elena knows.  


 

  
Stefan told her in person. She knows Caroline will say something when she feels less insecure in her relationship with Stefan. It was the same when Caroline started things up with Matt. Elena hopes she will tell her soon, because she can't understand why her best friend feels like Elena is always winning or stealing things away from Caroline.  


 

  
Because sometimes, in the deepest darkest moments, she thinks Caroline is doing the same to her.  


 

  
Elena looks on as Damon makes Caroline hold up the car with her vampire strength as he fixes the tire; putting on a spare.  


 

  
Elena speaks as Damon makes his way over to her. “You know we can’t drive home on a spare. It will get us to the cabin, but that’s it.”  


 

  
“Well then I guess I can go buy you a tire, but it will cost you.”  


 

  
She can tell that Damon’s up to something - it's not like he never had a plan before - but she has no idea what it can be.  


 

  
“You want an invite to our sleepover?”  


 

  
“Oh, so nice of you to invite me. I’ll meet you girls there.” Damon smirks as he walks to his car, leaving a pissed-off looking Bonnie and a stunned Caroline glaring at Elena. She knows better than to open her mouth around Damon.  


 

  
3\. Caroline  


 

  
She can’t believe that Elena was the one who invited a guy with them. It's not like she didn’t imagine having Stefan sneak up when everyone else was asleep, but this is _Damon_. And her picturing Damon in any other way besides burning in flames now-a-days just isn't happening.  


 

  
“Why did you have to go and invite him?”  


 

  
“Caroline, for the last time, I didn’t mean to. I was just making a joke.”  


 

  
“Yeah, a joke that screwed up our plans. How am I supposed to tell you about my sex life with him here?”  


 

  
“I’m pretty sure you'll still do that, Caroline,” Bonnie chimes in.  


 

  
Leave it to Bonnie to clear the air between Elena and herself. She feels lucky to have both of them here with her. Damon could be an added bonus only if he didn't sleep with her friends.  


 

  
“Fine; if Elena apologizes, I’ll let it go.”  


 

  
It is just like her to get the last word.  


 

  
After the fire has been lit and the girls made s'mores, and Damon found a bottle of wine, things get interesting. It has taken less than five minutes for Bonnie to get tipsy and giggly like a school girl, while Caroline and Elena give Damon a manicure.  


 

  
“What’s with the little witch? She can't be drunk already.”  


 

  
“Wine isn’t Bonnie’s strong suit,” Elena states as a smirk appears on Damon's face.  


 

  
Caroline knows what he's up to. “Don’t even think about it, Damon. Bonnie’s with Jeremy.”  


 

  
Bonnie giggles again as she slides from the couch and walks over to the other three.“I’m fucking Jeremy.”  


 

  
Caroline starts laughing, since normal, sober Bonnie would never have said that.  


 

  
“Time for bed, Bon.”  


 

  
She takes her best friend’s hand as Elena grabs the other. Damon just gives Caroline a look.  


 

  
“Yes Damon, enjoy the couch.”  


 

  
Elena eyes her, knowing that there are other rooms available for their male guest. Caroline is just hoping he's forgotten about the rooms.  


 

  
It has been a few hours later and Caroline can’t sleep. Be it from the wine, or the fact that she is stuck in the middle between Bonnie - who is using her body as another bed - and Elena - who likes to sleep with her head so close it's impossible not to breathe in her air.  


 

  
She needs out.  


 

  
Using her vamp abilities, Caroline gets out of bed without waking anyone. She heads to the living room, and sees Damon's still up.He's on to a bottle of bourbon now. Before she says anything, she grabs his cup and takes a sip.  


 

  
“It will never be like this again, will it?”  


 

  
Caroline has tears in her eyes. She can't seem to grasp that this life - her life - won't be hers for much longer. The only thing Damon seems able to do is give her a hug. She knows she will be leaving her life in Mystic Falls very soon.  


 

  
“Everything has changed,” Caroline says to herself as she looks onto the cabin where she'd had so many fun times before. It has been years since she's been back; years since she's seen any of the people she used to know.  


 

  
The last time she had a face to face conversation with her two best friends was when Bonnie told them she was pregnant with her daughter Emily. The girl is thirteen now and lanky just like Jeremy had been all those years ago. She wonders if Emily's powers have set in. Caroline is certain that her parents aren't going to hide that from her.  


 

  
Then she sees Bennett Grayson; her favorite, if she could pick out of the kids. It’s his seventh birthday in a week, and the families come together for a long weekend every year. She sends birthday cards to all the kids, but with BG - her nickname for the boy - she likes to send a hand-written story about his parents' past. The kid is a genius, and she can’t be sure if Jeremy is really his father because of that.  


 

  
Caroline gets teary-eyed as she sees Tyler and one of those Fell girls. They've been dating for about a year, and seeing the baby bump makes Caroline sad. She never did have claim to Tyler, but he was her best guy friend and she won't be there to mock him about doing everything wrong with his kid.  


 

  
A small smile plays across her face. It's Matt and Elena; Elena and Matt: best friends turned lovers more than once. She’s glad Elena is happy because Caroline felt really bad when she started to date Stefan all those years ago. But Elena has made something of her life. Having a six year old boy, Viktor, and a two year old baby girl named Mandy, she seems to have a perfect normal life. Just like her best friend always wished for.  


 

  
She likes to think that the founders' council was dismissed, that her mother didn’t add her friends into the mix, but that would be a lie. Because when Alaric, all old and cute, looks her way into the woods, she knows that he can’t see her, but he will always have a sixth sense to know when vampires are lurking; that vampires - like Caroline - are still not tolerated in her hometown.  


 

  
It's been hard not seeing her friends for years, but it's better this way. No evil things could come after them if she isn't around. After all, there were a lot of creatures she had pissed off over the years. She wants to believe that they miss her - that they remember her - but she knows none of the kids are named after her, so probably not.  


 

  
She is their past; they have a present that she is not a part of.  


 

  
“You were told not to come.”  


 

  
“So were you.”  


 

  
She knows that Damon misses them like she does, even if he won't admit it. There have been times in the past thirteen years where the two of them see something to remind them of their friends, but they have to hold back. They need to for Stefan.  


 

  
“My brother, the protector.”  


 

  
Caroline loves Stefan with all of her heart, but she knows whenever she brings up her past - their past - it makes him rethink all the bad things he has done. He doesn’t want Caroline to live in the past when their future has been so bright. Traveling the world, meeting people she wouldn’t have dreamed of meeting, but most of all, being together.  


 

  
But it was easier for him. All the people he cared about as a human are long gone and here is everyone and everything she knows, still living. She needs to still be a part of them.  


 

  
“Should we?” She asks as if Damon would really tell her no.  


 

  
“Just for your information, vampire Barbie, I didn’t come for Elena or even Bonnie. I came…”  


 

  
“I know. We came for all of them.”  


 

  
She takes Damon’s hand as she leads the way over. Both she and Damon need to be a part of this life. For her it was the only life she had ever known, and for him it was the only life he didn’t screw up miserably.  


 

  
Her eyes lock onto Elena’s as the woman, who's thirty-one now, puts the potato salad down.  


 

  
“Care?”  


 

  
Bonnie turns from telling BG not to throw rocks to looking at Caroline as if her best friend has returned from the dead.  


 

  
“Aunt Elena, sorry I’m so late.”  


 

  
Caroline gives her best 'this can work' look, as the kids now seem interested, and are probably wondering who the hell she is.  


 

  
Elena nods as she walks around the picnic table right up to Caroline and hugs her.  


 

  
“Its okay kids, this is….”  


 

  
“Lizzie Salvatore. My mom is…”  


 

  
“Aunt Caroline!” BG screams as he forces himself between her and his aunt. He begins to tug on Caroline’s shirt hem.  


 

  
“Your mom is Aunt Caroline. You know she sends me the best birthday gifts ever. I love dinosaurs and she just sent me this huge T-Rex for my birthday. I’ll be…”  


 

  
“Seven,” She cuts him off. “I know, sorry Aunt Caroline couldn’t come, but...”  


 

  
“Uncle Stefan is sick,” Emily chimes in. “That’s why they can never come around, but mom and Aunt Elena talk about them all the time. I didn’t know they had a daughter. How old are you, and who's that?”  


 

  
Be it for a Bennett witch to ask every question known to man. Caroline is so glad her best friends talk about her and have found a way to explain her absence. Caroline smiles as she looks around. Matt and Jeremy are giving her warm smiles as Tyler shakes his head like he's always known she would return. Before she speaks, she looks to Alaric as if asking for his permission.  


 

  
“Lizzie just turned sixteen,” Alaric says, his eyes telling her that it's all right by him. Then he eyes Damon, who eyes him right back. God, she can tell that these two have missed each other a lot.  


 

  
She’s not sure who the hell Damon can be. He looks too old to be Caroline and Stefan’s son and she's sure that none of them have spoken about 'Uncle Damon', so she might have to improvise. Any way she spins this, she's sure Damon will kill her.  


 

  
He could play her boyfriend, but that would mean kissing him and she doesn't want that.  


 

  
She could say he is the new history teacher at Mystic Falls High, but she isn't sure if Ric is still teaching there, and she doesn't live in Mystic Falls, so it would be weird for her to know anyone from there.  


 

  
“Guys, this is my baby cousin Jake Lockwood. My Uncle Mason’s boy.”  


 

  
She is so glad that Tyler can still read her like a book. She gives him a huge smile, thanking him, before she looks over to Damon, who just seems glad he can be around everyone.  


 

  
“Yeah, Jake and I live next door to each other.”  


 

  
She was going to say that he goes to the same high school as she does, but Damon died when he was twenty-four. With him you can’t say he's much younger than maybe twenty, but even that’s pushing it. How else is she supposed to say they are friends, since apparently she is now sixteen again and not in her thirties?  


 

  
“Oh yeah,” he says while rolling his eyes at her. “Lizzie and I go way back.”  


 

  
The kids have no problem believing them, so they can get back to eating.  


 

  
“Well, let’s get some food now. I’m starving,” Bonnie says as she places her hand on Caroline’s back and leads her to the table to sit next to her and across from Elena.  


 

  
Caroline looks around at her friends as the jokes and the talk of the past come up and they tell her about her mother.  


 

  
Damon’s joking with Ric, Tyler and Jeremy as if he never left. The kids ask her questions every so often, but she expects that. She bonds with Mandy as the others run off to play. Emily stays put and watches Caroline interact with her mother and aunt.  


 

  
“Lizzie, will we see you again?”  


 

  
Caroline turns to the black-haired teenager. She should say no. When Stefan finds out about this - and she knows Damon will brag - he will try to talk her out of this new life she could be leading.  


 

  
“Actually, I think I might be transferring to Mystic Falls High when school starts up.”  


 

  
Damon jumps into the conversation as he gets chased around by BG and Viktor. “Yeah, I’m starting up my own business in Mystic Falls, and with Stefan being sick, Lizzie’s mom said she could come stay with me.”  


 

  
It's just like him to follow Caroline’s plan. She thinks of Stefan and how this will hurt him, but she has a good five years - she knows how to make herself look a bit older now - to stay in Mystic Falls with her family. And she is not going to give that up.  


 

 

  
4\. Lizzie  


 

  
Lizzie Salvatore has been living in Mystic Falls for two months now. Her days are spent watching BG, Viktor and Mandy after cheerleading practice, and driving Emily around.Emily's just told her that she is a witch. Caroline has dyed her hair a dark brown after some old lady mentioned that she looked too much her mother.  


 

  
Lizzie also spends time telling off Jake, aka Damon, when he says he's going to run against Tyler to be mayor.  


 

  
His reply is, _“What? I’m a Lockwood now. It's my birthright to rule this town.”_  


 

  
But today is different.  


 

  
She is going to bring her new boyfriend to Thursday night family dinner at home. Lizzie bursts through the Gilbert's - now the Donovan's - door as she throws her things down on the hallway bench, dragging the boy behind her inside.  


 

  
“Elena! Bonnie! I’m home.”  


 

  
Both of her so-called aunts walk in from the kitchen, their cups of coffee in hand as they eye the boy in front of them.  


 

  
“It’s good to see you again, Stefan.”  


 

  
Elena smiles as she hugs her one-time lover, and Bonnie gives him a small squeeze.  


 

  
Before Stefan can say that he's really missed them too, the boys come running down the stairs. Stefan takes Elena’s hand and kisses the top of it.  


 

  
“It's nice to meet you, Mrs. Donovan. I’m Zachary Pierce.”  


 

  
And just like that, Caroline Forbes gets to be with her best friends for longer then anyone expected.  


 

  
Because in the end, Bonnie will still always be in the middle, Elena will always, without trying, one up Caroline, and Caroline will always need her best friends in a way that neither of them knows.  


  



End file.
